Obertauern – The Frankfurter Travel
Travel photography in Obertauern: an alpine travel story for The Frankfurter, in stills and on film. An alpine travel shoot in Obertauern for THE FRANKFURTER.
An alpine travel shoot in Obertauern for THE FRANKFURTER. The key shot is made from behind: a skier with skis on his shoulder at the ridge, the panorama of snow-covered crests in front of him against the light. Snow throws off every automatic exposure and forgives no error in white balance — and high in the mountains the weather directs, not the schedule.
The skier stands at the edge of the groomed run, the valley dropping away behind him, the sun low over the ridge. Photographed from behind, because the viewer’s eye then travels the same way his does — a face would only have made the view smaller.
Backlight on snow is the case where a camera is furthest off. The bright surface pulls any automatic exposure down, and the snow comes out gray. So the exposure is deliberately pushed above it, and how bright it reads is decided in the frame rather than afterwards.
The rest is scheduling. A day on the mountain has two usable phases of light with the lift operation between them — anyone who wants the ridges backlit is up there before the pistes fill.
- Destination
- Obertauern
Watch the film: Obertauern – The Frankfurter Travel (1:44)